BUSINESS

By Greg PeelThe three big "headline" influences in current global financial markets are Europe, China and the US.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund has sold off its entire holdings in Irish and Portuguese government bonds, and reduced their share of Spanish and Italian bonds.

Asia is set to produce more solar power than any other region in the world over the next five years.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 76 points or 0.6% while the S&P lost 0.4% to 1363 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.

Microsoft is trying to increase the sales again of the Xbox 360 by offering it at a cheaper price.

Facebook users in Australia can now share their donor status with their friends due to the feature introduced by the social networking site.

Samsung finally unveiled the Samsung Galaxy S III, the follow up to the company's successful Samsung Galaxy S II. The release of the smartphone was met with enthusiasm as many users were impressed by the features and specifications of Samsung Galaxy S III. This leads us to the big question: To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade?

Although two of the richest persons in Australia often agree to oppose certain government policies such as the mining tax and the carbon tax, Andrew Forrest and Gina Rinehart are on the opposite sides when it comes to employment of foreign workers.

The future is still bright for Australia beef industry. According to a report released on Monday at the Beef Australia 2012 summit, the country's cattle herd is expected to reach 30 million heads this year. It would be the peak since the 1970s.

The submission deadline for comment on NCCP amendments has passed, and Gadens Lawyers' Jon Denovan has blasted the unintended consequences of the legislation.

By Greg PeelJapan shut down its last operating commercial reactor over the weekend. To put this event into context, before the Fukushima disaster Japan boasted 54 operating commercial reactors providing around one third of the country's electricity needs.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 29 points or 0.2% while the S&P closed flat at 1369 and the Nasdaq gained less than 0.

The New South Wales (NSW) government said on Monday that it will push through with the North West Rail Link project in Sydney despite the rejection by the federal government of its request for a $2.1-billion financial assistance. It is now seeking private investors to finance the said project

The worst appears to be behind GM Holden, for now, as the carmaker reported on Monday $89.7 million in profits for 2011, largely boosted by the total number of Cruze that hit Australian roads since last year.

The latest building activity data confirmed the warning issued last week by the Australian central bank - that the local housing sector will not be geared to recovery mode, at least in the near term.

By Ben Traynor, BullionVaultWe've just had the quietest 40 days since the financial crisis began.

By Benjamin Spier, FXCMInflation is one of the most important gauges for a currency trader to track, yet one of the more confusing pieces of data.

In yesterday's Daily Reckoning we left off with the idea that a cashless society promotes tyranny. That might seem like an odd subject to begin with today, given the show-stopping 50 basis point cut in the cash rate by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) yesterday.

On Thursday we predicted doom and gloom for the Australian housing market. More doom and gloom than we've seen already.

More than 2,000 senior public officials in the United Kingdom may have benefitted from a controversial pay deal scheme.

Westpac Banking Corporation announced on Friday that it will cut its variable home loan rates by 37 points, in the process keeping 13 points for the bank. However, the bank passed in full the cut in interest rate to business loans.

Victoria's unemployment rate of almost 5.8 per cent is expected to worsen as hundreds of workers in the Australian state lose their work.

Kellogg's plans to sweeten its' brand offering with a touch of salt in 2012. Their newest property is the recently purchased Pringles flagship, and the buy represents Kellogg's effort to chip away at the growing international snacks market.

No new planes will be added to Qantas Airways' existing fleet as the company embarked on saving measures that will push back the scheduled deliveries of eight Airbus A380s to 2019 at the latest.

Australians continue to show a change in their drinking preference as they drank less alcoholic drinks and beer, and more of spirits.

Telecom competitors Vodafone and Optus have agreed to a joint venture project to build 500 more new mobile phone stations in the next four years to address network problems.

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArenaI joined Twitter. Not because I am curious what this celebrity has to say about her kids, or to read that another one is waiting for a connecting flight, impatiently.

Westpac Banking Corporation reported on Thursday first-half net profit of $3.07 billion for the six months to March 31. While it is a 25 per cent decline compared to the same period a year ago, the slump was mainly due to a one-off tax consolidation following Westpac's purchase of St George.

U.S. stocks fell as a disappointing reading on services-sector activity tempered sentiment on the eve of the government's employment report.